28 years on and still counting the accolades

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Next week will mark 28 years since China regained sovereignty of Hong Kong. And since then, the future of Hong Kong has been tested time and again by adversaries hell bent to secure its failure. They all failed.

This can be attributed to the unity of Hong Kong people, the rule of law and good governance.

Almost weekly Hong Kong success stories unfold in international studies and comparative analysis. Only last week the University of Hong Kong was ranked 11 out of 1,500 higher education institutions world-wide for its academic reputation and citations per faculty by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) academic experts. The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Science and Technology were also ranked 32nd and 44th respectively. The Education Department said the rankings reflected Hong Kong’s “attractiveness as a hub for international talent.”

Also last week, Hong Kong has been ranked the third-most competitive economy in the world, advancing two spots from last year, according to the 2025 World Competitiveness Yearbook released by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

And this week, the often named the “Oscars of the Aviation Industry,” Skytrax announced that Hong Kong’s own, Cathay Pacific Airways performed well, winning multiple titles, including the best economy class 2024, the cleanest airline, as well as 5th in the overall airline rankings.

The accolades just keep rolling in. The IMD Yearbook 2025 ranked Hong Kong 6th in the world for economic performance, a massive jump of its 36th placing in 2023, and 7th place for its infrastructure, up six points from its 2023 ranking.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said Hong Kong’s scores, both in overall terms and in many specific areas, have improved, showing that the Hong Kong SAR Government’s policy course is the right one, with various policies already yielding clear results.

Highlighting that the city ranks second globally on government efficiency, he said this reflects the inherent excellence and competence of the city’s civil servants and indicates that policies designed to make the government more result-oriented are bearing fruit.

In addition, noting that Hong Kong also ranks second globally on business efficiency, Lee said this reflects business leaders’ positive views of Hong Kong’s competitiveness and of its strengths, including the rule of law, a simple tax system and low tax rates, and the free flow of capital, information, goods and talent.

Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO) in Beijing, Xia Baolong, said at the opening ceremony of a forum marking the national security law’s fifth anniversary on June 21 that the law was the city’s “guardian,” adding that Hong Kong should use the rule of law to safeguard “high-quality development.”

The implementation of the national security law over the past five years has demonstrated that it is a “good law with significant historical and practical importance,” he said.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Algernon Yau, said in an RTHK interview that the influx of non-local firms to Hong Kong has accelerated in recent months despite the sweeping tariffs imposed by the United States, demonstrating continued confidence in the city.

In the interview which marks the 28th anniversary of the SAR’s establishment, as well as the first three years of Lee's administration, Yau said Hong Kong has attracted 319 companies to set up shop in the SAR during the first five months of the year, with the firms' investment in the SAR totalling HK$26.5 billion, along with the creation of 6,500 jobs.

The tariff war has done nothing to slow the trend. While the government's investment promotion agency InvestHK has attracted 223 foreign businesses to expand to the SAR for the first four months of the year, the figure suddenly rose by another 96 in May alone – representing a 43-percent jump on the overall figure for 2025.

But we must not be complacent nor rest on our laurels. Xia and other speakers at the forum warned that foreign forces, particularly the US, are still lurking in the background to undermine Hong Kong’s successes with an aim to dismantling the one country two systems concept of governance.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

The conclusion of the Jimmy Lai Chee-ying trial, which lasted 156 days, was a showcase on law and order in Hong Kong and showed that justice seen is justice done.

A panel of three judges – Esther Toh Lye-ping, Susana D’Almada Remedios and Alex Lee – delivered their verdict on Monday that Jimmy Lai was guilty of national security charges involving two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to print seditious articles.

In their ruling, detailed in an 855-page document, the judges said Lai was the “mastermind” behind the conspiracies, with his sole intent was to “seek the downfall” of the ruling Communist Party.

The trial, which spanned two years (December 2023-2025), with breaks in between, drew international attention through a global campaign by his son, Sebastien, and his team of public relations cum legal experts, Doughty Street Chambers, of London.

They kept the story alive visiting world leaders and TV networks pleading for Lai senior’s release from custody citing poor health. And they got the sound bites they wanted, but the end result was useless. Jimmy Lai was found guilty as charged and could face life imprisonment, the maximum penalty for collusion.

Before passing sentence, the judges will hear mitigating arguments from Lai’s solicitors on January 12 as to why he should be sentenced and if so for a minimum period. They will surely use Lai’s deteriorating health as their main argument.

After the mitigating hearing, which is expected to last about a week, the judges will retire to decide Lai’s fate.

An interesting aspect of the trial is its open transparency. Although Hong Kong is rated 6th in the Asia/Pacific region and 24th out of 143 countries worldwide by the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, the Lai lobbyists branded the High Court as a “sham court.”

The territory’s prosecuting office and the Chief Executive decided on a three-member panel of judges to hear the case instead of going for a full jury hearing. The reason is obvious: it would be difficult to find a seven- or 12-member panel of ordinary citizens who had not heard of the Jimmy Lai arrest and formed an opinion before the trial started.

The courtroom was specially configured to allow 58 seats in the public gallery and another 42 for the press in the main courtroom. Of those, 21 are allocated to local media, 14 to international outlets and seven to digital news platforms.

A group of about 16 western diplomats arrived at the court at around 8.20am on Monday morning with representatives from the UK, the US, the EU and Canada among them to hear the verdict and report back to their respective foreign ministers. Most of them attended the hearings every day to observe the fairness of the court. Never has a Hong Kong court hearing been under such intense scrutiny.

It could not be more transparent. It was open to the world. From the first day that prosecution witnesses gave their evidence to the closing remarks by the defendant, the foreign diplomats and international press were there recording every word spoken.

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to call it a “sham court” and international reaction will be interesting. Their comments could implicate their complicity in Lai’s masterplan to overthrow the Chinese government.

Speaking outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Monday, shortly after the guilty verdict was delivered, Chief Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of the police force’s National Security Department said Lai’s conviction was “justice served.”

Lai “exploited his media enterprise” and used his wealth and “extensive foreign political connections” to collude with foreign powers, Li said.

His views were echoed by Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung who believed that the trial illustrates how safe Hong Kong is and how we are able to interdict all the national security concerns and all the attempts to affect the national security. “I think this is a good showcase to show that Hong Kong is safe and it is safe to do investments in Hong Kong,” he said.

Indeed. The Jimmy Lai trial was a showcase on how Hong Kong’s rule of law and judicial prudence can shape the city to make it the Pearl of the Orient.